Preliminary inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the death of Master Adebola Akin-Bright, the 12-year-old boy with the missing intestine who died at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), commenced on Friday before the coroner, Magistrate Bola Folarin-Williams, sitting at Magistrate Court 4, Botanical Gardens, Ebute-Metta, Lagos.

At the proceedings, counsel to the Lagos State Government, Ola Akinde, informed the court that necessary tests and examinations have been conducted on the corpse and there is a post-mortem report.

He also said that the office of the State Attorney General is aware of letters from solicitors to the father of the deceased seeking to preserve the corpse while the mother seeks the release of the corpse to her for burial. He noted that the state is not against any of the requests, but would leave the decision on what to do to the court.

The Coroner In her response indicated that she got information that the autopsy report is ready and will soon get to the court.

She also said that it may be necessary for the father and the mother of the deceased to file their respective applications on what to do with the corpse so that the court can rule on it.

Counsel to the complainant, Mr Ebun Adegboruwa, SAN, then applied that the report be made available to all the parties in the case.

Adegboruwa also stated that since the deceased died in LASUTH, it may be better to have an independent examination of the corpse by experts such as the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to avoid the likelihood of bias and conflict of interests.

The senior lawyer further informed the Coroner that he became aware on Friday morning that Femi Falana (SAN) is the lead counsel to the deceased’s mother and would be liaising with them to harmonise the parent’s viewpoints.

In the interim, he urged the court to preserve the corpse since the Coroner had already assumed jurisdiction over the matter.

Akinde has informed the Coroner that the state is ready to cooperate with and assist the parties by making available all witnesses and documents, including all doctors and medical personnel who attended to the deceased at LASUTH.

After listening to all the submissions, the Coroner asked parties to meet to harmonize their views and submit the list of the names of witnesses to be called before the next date. She directed that the autopsy report and all necessary documents be made available to the counsel of the parties.

The case was adjourned to November 24 for further proceedings.